Tuesday, April 07, 2009

This Guy Is A Strategist?

I've never quite understood why Tim Powers is considered a "must read" Conservative strategist. Maybe I'm missing something, or he's just too agile for my pedestrian mind to comprehend, but I've always found his musings and commentary nothing more than juvenile, typical tripe, that isn't particularly persuasive. Today, Powers, like many other Conservatives, is fixating on a mostly obscure YouTube presentation known as "GritGirl". It just grates these Conservatives, and it's very amusing to see how easily they can be put off their game. Powers:

The mysterious Grit Girl

Of course, certain Liberals have been running viral attack ads against the government for a while now. Under the pseudonym Grit Girl some clever force has been filling the Internet with anti-government propaganda. This modern day Tokyo Rose is pretty good at flogging but not so good at disclosing. All is fair in love and war, but the Liberals should at least own up to their ads stop hiding behind Grit Girl's skirt.

...It is a strange position to take for someone who is trying to characterize himself as a confident fiscal manager. But then again if Grit Girl is Iggy's model of accountability, who is really surprised?

In articulating such a thin skin, Powers actually draws attention to a "phenomenon" which NOBODY in Canada actually knows about. I would argue, if GritGirl ever does hit mainstreet, she can largely thank the Conservatives, because all this focus is just pure gold, exposure wise.

This comment from the piece, pretty much sums it up:

Stan L from Canada writes: I think you guys should spend a lot of time talking about GritGirl.....keep writing stories and trying to guess the identity.....it's good for business, after all I would never have known about these spots if some Conservative supporter wasn't crying foul about them.

Thanks Tim, I'm sure there are a few more, formerly in the dark, Canadians now looking for "GritGirl" on YouTube as we speak. The more these Conservatives "attack", the more I'm convinced Kinsella and company are going to eat these people alive. This guy is a strategist?

The strange part, the logic seems to think using these videos as evidence of Liberals going negative helps their cause. All it does it make them look SPOOKED, surprisingly sensitive and prone to self fulfilling exaggeration. Those videos, if nothing else, have turned into an amazing irritant.

Steve, I wonder why? GG's vids are cute, not at all mean or of a personal nature, well perhaps the Muldoon one is a bit; - but all I got is it is just that they ARE cute & people are larff'n at this gang now, - & they don't like it. It was all fine when the press were larff'n at Dion & his plane, now?

I think it also bellies the fact the CONs next narrative following an electoral defeat is to whine and kick more than furniture. I watched Jon Stewart tonight and he was hilarious, pillaring the Fox and right-wing media for turning their disgruntled bad-loser attitudes and turning it into a pyre 'against tyranny'... Harper demonstrated during the self-made winter crisis that he'll divide at will and prefer to burn down the house rather than surrender. He's willing to incite anger, hatred and fear among Canadians if it can meet his goal. By comparing GritGirl to Tokyo Rose he's insulting everyone who had any experience and made any sacrifice during WWII to protect our democratic rights.He's a shill, but unfortunately, Powers will do Harper's bidding. And how low do you think they'd go? Maybe bribe a dying MP? Buy off their own candidates and then try not to pay off? Lie and cheat?

Off topic, Steve, but I just posted some much belated (putting it mildly) comments on your Nov 2008 post about voter turnout in the US elections. I think the comments with links are in your queue for the ancient history post ;)

Ends up voter turnout was notably up in 2008 compared to 2004, placing the 2008 election as the highest voting turnout since 1968 (about on par with that election).

So much for the spin being widely peddled on Nov 5 that the election turnout was not any better than 2004. Good spin is Great Spin if you know no one will be paying any attention when the real facts come out ;).